Distributor- turns clockwise only? - Land Rovers Only

philippe · 09-26-2005, 12:23 PM

My '87 EFI 3.5 is running roughly after its top end rebuild. I am not sure how healthy my distributor is...? The rotor arm rotates only clockwise with a quiet click-clicking as it trips the pickup. It will not turn anti-clockwise as it the jams against the pickup. The vacuum advance was basically hanging off as the two torx screws were left loose.
To top it all off the vacuum advance appears to work when the inline advance 'dampener' is plugged the right way round....
Do these distributors wear out quickly?
Any ideas greatly welcomed! Cheers

TerryS · 09-26-2005, 02:56 PM

There shouldn't be any noise, or 'clicking' from the pickup. If it's jamming, as you suggest it may be, I would first check the gap between the reluctor and the pickup, using a brass or plastic feeler guage. Also, there may be something amiss with the advance weights, or their springs. The shaft should rotate smoothly in both directions (assuming, obviously, that it's out of the car.)

philippe · 09-27-2005, 04:50 AM

Thanks Terry for the advice.
I am looking for a good used distributor to make sure the rough running is due to this. My parts manual lists various units which all seem to have been superceded.
How interchangable are the dizzies? Can I fit a 3.9 EFI unit to my 3.5 EFI? They both have the reference 35DLM8 but I do not know if the springs or advance weights are the same or not.....

deadboy1977 · 08-21-2007, 09:53 AM

did you ever get your problem fixed?

09-26-2005, 12:23 PM	#1 (permalink)
philippe Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 54 Gallery: 0	Distributor- turns clockwise only? My '87 EFI 3.5 is running roughly after its top end rebuild. I am not sure how healthy my distributor is...? The rotor arm rotates only clockwise with a quiet click-clicking as it trips the pickup. It will not turn anti-clockwise as it the jams against the pickup. The vacuum advance was basically hanging off as the two torx screws were left loose. To top it all off the vacuum advance appears to work when the inline advance 'dampener' is plugged the right way round.... Do these distributors wear out quickly? Any ideas greatly welcomed! Cheers

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09-26-2005, 02:56 PM	#2 (permalink)
TerryS Moderator Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Bloomfield, CT If I died today, I lived there all my life. Posts: 2,229 Gallery: 0	There shouldn't be any noise, or 'clicking' from the pickup. If it's jamming, as you suggest it may be, I would first check the gap between the reluctor and the pickup, using a brass or plastic feeler guage. Also, there may be something amiss with the advance weights, or their springs. The shaft should rotate smoothly in both directions (assuming, obviously, that it's out of the car.)

09-27-2005, 04:50 AM	#3 (permalink)
philippe Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 54 Gallery: 0	Thanks Terry for the advice. I am looking for a good used distributor to make sure the rough running is due to this. My parts manual lists various units which all seem to have been superceded. How interchangable are the dizzies? Can I fit a 3.9 EFI unit to my 3.5 EFI? They both have the reference 35DLM8 but I do not know if the springs or advance weights are the same or not.....

08-21-2007, 09:53 AM	#4 (permalink)
deadboy1977 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 125 Gallery: 0	did you ever get your problem fixed?

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